BART strike 'extremely likely,' union leaders say

Unions leave the bargaining table - await an improved district offer

Updated 9:58 pm, Saturday, June 29, 2013

Commuters who depend on BART are being advised to prepare for a strike Monday morning by working from home or finding alternative transportation such as carpools, ferries or buses.

Commuters who depend on BART are being advised to prepare for a strike Monday morning by working from home or finding alternative transportation such as carpools, ferries or buses.

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

BART strike 'extremely likely,' union leaders say

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A Monday morning BART strike began to look a lot more likely Saturday when negotiations between BART and its two largest labor unions stalled and union leaders warned that a strike is all but inevitable.

Bargaining teams for SEIU and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents 944 train operators and station agents, made the announcement at 4:15 p.m. Saturday after walking out of the Kaiser Center in Oakland, where negotiations are being held. Some of the negotiators were pulling suitcases and said they had been prepared to bargain late into the night.

But after waiting since Friday for a proposal from BART, they said they were frustrated and tired of waiting for what they had expected would be a meaningful offer from the system's leaders. Union negotiators said it seemed that BART officials were trying to string them along until hours before the 11:59 p.m. Sunday deadline when the existing contract expires.

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"We have waited patiently," said Antonette Bryant, ATU Local 1555 president. "We are ready to negotiate, we are willing to negotiate."

'An improved offer'

BART spokesman Rick Rice said the transit agency was ready to resume talks when the state mediator informed negotiators that the union bargaining teams had left the building and asked BART officials to e-mail the proposal when it was ready.

"We have an improved offer that we would like to share with them and talk about," he said. "We've been working very hard on that proposal."

Late Saturday, Mooney said she had received the new proposal but that the unions still had no plans to return to the bargaining table.

Rice said the latest proposal would raise salaries by 2 percent for each of four years, reduce the contribution employees would have to make to their pensions, and lower the costs of health care premiums they would have to pay. All workers would end up getting raises under the new proposal, he said. BART employees - union and nonunion - currently make no contributions to their pensions and pay a flat $92 a month for health insurance.

Union officials have said that BART's previous proposal would cost the average employee $9,700 over four years. The unions have proposed a 5 percent annual raise plus a 2 percent yearly cost-of-living adjustment, which BART says adds up to 23.2 percent over four years.

Most BART station agents and train operators earn salaries in the low to mid-$60,000 range but also make an additional $11,000 to $16,000 annually in overtime, according to BART. BART estimates the average value of benefits at $50,000.

BART has made pension contributions and increased health insurance premiums key issues in the negotiations, along with reducing overtime. BART also says the average employee takes off 40 unscheduled days a year, though that total includes long-term absences such as disability leaves or industrial injuries.

But some of it, BART says, is due to an overtime policy that allows workers to call in sick on a scheduled day, then work an unscheduled day and get paid overtime. Union officials dispute BART's estimates and say unsafe working conditions cause many absences.

The unions have pressed BART officials to bargain over safety issues, including actions to protect station agents from assaults and rail maintenance workers from being hit by trains.

This year's negotiations seem to be proceeding more slowly than usual, with talks not really starting until May and the sides remaining far from agreement.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. on Sunday, but Mooney said the unions weren't likely to show up unless BART had something significant to discuss.

"I don't know that we're going to take valuable time away from informing the public and preparing our members for a strike unless there is a significant improvement," Mooney said.

Bracing for strike

Meanwhile, commuters and Bay Area transportation officials are planning for the possibility of life without BART. They're advising commuters to work from home, carpool or drive during off-peak hours, if possible. AC Transit buses are tentatively expected to provide extra service on transbay routes and to run a shuttle between downtown Oakland and San Francisco. But AC Transit officials advised their riders Saturday evening to consider alternative transportation Monday because system drivers are also in negotiations and could strike.

San Francisco Bay Ferry boats will offer additional service, and BART plans to run limited charter bus service from Walnut Creek, El Cerrito Del Norte, Fremont and Dublin/Pleasanton stations to San Francisco, with a transfer at West Oakland.

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